Conservation on Koh Tao is hugely important to us. We all know that littering not only wrecks the environment but creates an unsightly, costly amount of work for someone else. There are those out there that will see litter while taking a stroll and keep walking, and those that will be proactive and take the litter and dispose of it correctly. Though this should be the job and consequence of the person generating trash in the first place, in many cases, they simply don’t care. It is the select few people that go out of their way to pick up the litter of someone else that truly make a difference in the environment. If you can become that person, the environment will love you for it. If everyone picked up a few pieces of trash in their daily routines, the environment would be a cleaner, more appealing place.
Conservation on Koh Tao is about reducing our impact on the world by acting locally while thinking globally.
Littering has a whole host of consequences and negative downfalls for the environment and the population. How many marine animals have we seen that have died due to ingestion of so much plastic. How many birds have we seen choking on pieces of plastic, fish stuck in cans, and other disturbing images. Litter attracts harmful pests like mice and other rodents too. Litter is also responsible for lost revenue in tourism, vehicle/boat repair, ecosystem restoration, injury to wildlife, and human health. There’s an estimated 270 million tons of plastic waste in the ocean and over 1 million birds and 100,000 sea mammals die through direct contact or becoming stuck or trapped by it.
Trash scattered everywhere is one heck of an eyesore and can even make a community feel unsafe. Litter in communities and neighborhoods has kind of a chain effect for people. If one walks into a litter-laden community and sees everyone around them littering, they are more likely to have the same mentality. On the flip side, it also works when one goes into a clean community and sees people conscientiously picking litter up. The chain effect appears to be contagious in a way. This same chain effect can also hurt humans in the way that litter can contaminate groundwater, clog storm water drains, and lead to flooding. But not many would give it quite that much thought when they are tossing their McDonald’s bags out their car window.
So, next time you’re at the beach, at a park, in a parking lot, or really anywhere – take a few seconds to dispose of trash where it belongs.
